Page 39 of Where Darkness Dwells

After a few minutes the conversation ceases, and I find myself at the center of attention again. A man I recognize as an acquaintance of my father’s perches on the edge of a chair. Bryn, with his ebony hair and deep-set eyes overshadowed by a furrowed brow.

“Wehna, what happened to your parents?”

My breaths quicken, and I set the unfinished biscuit down in my lap. I close my eyes and exhale slowly.

I need to be strong.

17. Teron

TÉRON

HER HAND SPREADS WARMTH TO MINE. I pull her along through the trees, our footsteps silent in the springy moss.

Where are we going?she asks between sprinklings of breathless laughter.

You will see. My eyes fix on the glow in the distance. We are almost there.

Like birds, we flit between trunks and over bushes. The miles race past, sped along by the curious melody trickling past my beloved’s lips. The song falters, then stops. I peer back to see if she is alright, but her face turns down, and silvery blond hair floats in the breeze to obscure it. She holds up the skirt of her goldenrod dress in the other hand, uncovering bare feet that move cautiously through the bracken.

The closer we get, the colder her flesh feels.

Almost there,I promise, urging her to keep up. Doubt pinches my brow when I feel her struggle, but I keep my grip tight. I won’t let her fingers slip.

The forest thins. We break into open air and a shimmering cloud, and I cannot keep my face from beaming when we stop. But her hand stiffens. When the wind shifts her waves of reflective hair, I can see her face. Colorless.

What is this?she asks, her voice flat. A chill passes from her body into mine. Icy accusations pierce me from pale eyes.

I want to smooth her fears away. I reach to touch her cheek but find my fingers wrapped tightly around a dagger. My knuckles shine white, and though I try, they will not let go.

Something about the light demands my focus. An inexplicable desire fills me.Isme.

We must take it. We must take all of it,I say in a voice not my own. I should look away, but the dancing flames are bewitching.It is the only way.

When I advance toward the inferno, my shoulder snaps back. Ellehra will not move. Her grip is iron, her feet planted in the earth like pillars of granite. I plead with her. I try to pull her toward it, but her porcelain face moves slowly from side to side. Tears gather in her eyes.

Would you really ask this of me?

Of her? I do not understand.

Why do you let her hold you back, Téron?asks a derisive voice. A man wrapped in strips of dark cloth appears at my side. He is barely there, shifting in and out of reality like a yawning chasm. His strange garb tangles around him, mingling with the darkness.She doesn’t understand what’s at stake. But you do. Don’t you?

My chin bobs.Yes.

Then do what she cannot.

Ellehra’s hand slips from mine. Her lips part, but I cannot let her speak, cannot let her change my mind. Lunging away from her, I dive into the heart of the brilliance and strike with all the force I possess.

A cry rends the air. I wheel around. The dagger, no longer in my hand, protrudes from her chest. The light which I sought to extinguish pours from her heart like water. She sinks to her knees, but when I try to catch her, a muscular arm holds me back.

The ghost-man, who mirrors so closely Ellehra’s features, sputters in wicked laughter as he keeps me from my love. Excruciating spasms shudder down my core with each cachinnation.

You deceived me,I exhale, my sole reason for living escaping with the sound.

His laughter multiplies. I shake in his unyielding arms. An eerie wail rips me apart, but the incandescent flow gags me. It pierces my flesh, blinds my eyes, and forces itself down my throat until my lungs burn.

I jolt awake, gasping. The air in the cottage does not satisfy me; it has become putrid, stale. I press an arm across my forehead and squeeze my eyes shut. My head pounds against the weight. I drag in a breath, but it is like I am sucking through a mouth stuffed with cotton. Tears dampen the hair at my temples, and sweat soaks through my garments.

It was a dream. It was a dream.But the tremors continue.

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